BENTONVILLE (KFSM) -- More than 450 companies made their way to Walmart Home office Wednesday (June 13) to pitch their products to buyers in hopes to get their products into stores.
This was Walmart's 5th Annual Open Call and 13 Arkansas companies pitched their products.
The House of Webster in Rogers came to open call to pitch their smaller jarred jams, jellies and finishing sauces for Walmart’s meal kit line.
They got a winning ticket along with another product Walmart wants to test.
“We were made aware of an additional opportunity for unique higher end preserved foods within the gourmet section. So we will be working with our buyer for some unique items to roll out to local stores to start off with and then a full roll out is the item works out,” said Roberto Cancel, director of sales for House of Webster.
Cancel said those products will be specialty jams with unique flavor profiles.
He said they are very excited about this opportunity.
“Today was a two for one. We went in with one complete idea and ended up getting presented a completely different option that we didn't even realize was an option, so it's really exciting,” he said.
Walmart buyer Dan Hoelter said House of Webster getting the winning ticket means they will test their product in stores.
“Their ability to innovate and create an entire lineup of 150 to 60 different flavors for me, specifically we can kind of pinpoint and test a lot of different options. So, that's what I'm really excited about is that we can test a lot of different flavor profiles,” Hoelter said.
Walmart made a commitment in 2013 to purchase an additional $250 billion by 2023 in products sourced, made or grown in the U.S.A.